John Holmes Gray was born in Dennistoun, Glasgow, Scotland, in 1929 and grew up in Glasgow. He did his National Service in the Royal Navy where he was awarded a Royal Navy grant to attend drawing classes at Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland. On finishing his service he studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1949-1954, at diploma and post-diploma level. He studied under Johnny Miller in the first two years and then studied ceramics from 1951 under Johnny Crawford (ceramics was then part of the Sculptures Department, the Head of which was Benno Schotz ). He was awarded the Haldane Travelling Scholarship in 1953-54 . After leaving Glasgow School of Art he worked for Johnson, Matthey & Co Ltd, potters, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and other successful Stoke potters such as Spode and Royal Worcester.
The material listed here represents written and photographic records of his work completed whilst at Glasgow School of Art and after. Of particular interest to the School's history is the photograph of the clay model for the ceramic figure of a fireman, based on a drawing made at the time of a fire in the ceramics department in 1952, and the photographic negative of a sketch of the westend of the School, drawn and printed under the guidance of Gordon Huntly, by Holmes Grey and then transferred by the old stick-down method onto a plate. The plate was sold by D P Bliss, director of the School of Art, and given to the School in 1953.
From the guide to the Papers and photographs of John Holmes Gray, student of the Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland, 1949-1996, (The Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections Centre)
